Some good news!

Our local grocery store did a free health screening thing yesterday.

I was all prepared to have it be like the big health fair I go to in late April, where you stand in line practically all morning and then you have to wait for a month to get the results.

What a pleasant surprise when I walked in and there were only 4 folks ahead of me and I was told I would have my results on the spot!!

So, aside from the total lack of hassel, I was pleased to be told that the medication for my cholesterol is working!!

All of the "bad" cholesterol numbers had dropped a lot.

Now if someone could just tell me what I need to do to make the "good" cholesterol number go up, I would be a very happy camper.

Oh yeah, the fasting glucose number was real good too

Yippee ---- happy (virtual) cartwheels being turned here!!

I'm not a twit(ter)

Ok, I'm listening to the news and all the talking about twitter

Let me say here that while I consider myself pretty savvy about technology for an old broad, I do not Twitter

I also do not do text messaging on my cell phone

It's not that I think I couldn't

With the phone it's more a thing of no one I ever talk to on the phone (except my daughter) does texting either, so I can't justify the extra fee each month to have texting enabled on my phone. (Guess this shows a deplorable lack of techie friends)

As for twitter--

Let's say first that my computer is in the basement, and I go there every morning first thing and spend a couple of hours or so reading email and blogs and downloading any orders to be filled, etc.

After that, I go upstairs and I work on other things --- like sewing and beading and drawing and knitting --- well, you get the idea

So that whole idea of being right where the computer is and "tweeting" to people all day long is pretty strange, at least from the logistical point of it

I'm guessing this little piece of technology is just going to have to go on it's merry little way without my participation!

Music to my ears

I watched the president's speech last night.

This is a new experience for me. During the past 8 years I was interested in what was happening, but I couldn't stand to listen to the butchering of the English language and the outright lies that every presidential address was.

And during the times before that, frankly I was busy trying to juggle full time jobs and running a small business and being a good parent and was just too exhausted most of the time to pay attention.

Last night the president was back in his campaign style uplifting mode for the most part.

And for me, here is the line that gave me a real thrill:

"But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and our conscience long enough. So let there be no doubt: Health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year."

And the oddest couple in the Senate, Orin Hatch and Ted Kennedy will be the standard bearers for this legislation.

And NEXT WEEK(!) the discussions begin.

I'm at odds with some other things that are still going on, but I have hope that part of the country's biggest nightmare (and, yes, my own) will at least have someone seriously working on it.

yes, it's music to my ears

About to become a statistic?

So it would seem.

I recently was notified that my current health insurance plan is probably going to be eliminating individual coverage in my area.

So I applied for another plan, and was turned down because as a woman of my age I take medication for a couple of health issues. Seems I don't fit their "insurable profile".

Programs for the folks that fit my age and "health issues" are available, but we're talking something with a $10,000 deductable and a $500 plus per month premium.

I don't qualify for Medicaid, I'm too young for Medicare

If my current insurance company truly does cut individual coverage here, I will be joining the millions that have no insurance, which means if I should have some serious medical problem, it's just going to be "too bad for you"

health care reform can't come fast enough

Official Dog Duties

It's been pretty nice the last couple of days (after a Saturday full of fog and cold) such is the joy of living in the mountains!

Our dog has assigned herself to an official duty.

Every morning after breakfast, she and the DH take the bucket from the kitchen out to the compost bin (she'll sit at the back door and wait for him to come from the kitchen with it).

Later in the day she'll go out from time to time and make sure no squirrels are helping themselves to any "tasty treats" that she can't get to.

It's good for a labrador to be busy -- it keeps them out of trouble!

Snow and Seeds

It snowed last night.

We were only supposed to get a "dusting" but it was more than that.

The last little snow wasn't enough to even shovel, but this one was.

You just can't ever tell how much snow you'll get!

The seeds arrived yesterday.

Mmmmmmmm, garden on the hoof, so to speak, and by extension, lots of good fresh veggie meals toward the end of summer and hopefully enough tomatoes to can.

The plain white packages at the right are the Burpee seeds --- all very business like and such, but the other ones are from Baker Creek, and the packages are a lot more interesting and colorful.

I ordered two more seed catalogs this week --- blame it on Martha Stewart and the show she had earlier in the week talking about gardens --- even if we don't order from them this year, they will be a good resource for next.

Making hay while the sun shines

We live in an area that gets snow, and we're in snow season right now, but for the last week or so it's been pretty nice -- no snow, so warm in fact, that even in the back yard that never sees the sun, almost all the snow is melted.

We decided to take advantage of the brief week of spring-like weather and do some garden preparation

Last fall, before the first snow, the DH built the wood frame for our compost "heap".

Originally we were just going to use an area along the back fence where we could start with a hole and work from there, but we have a dog.

A big, black lab that thinks anything that ever passed through the kitchen in any form should be eaten

(why is it that dogs have a very keen sense of smell, but they'll eat anything --- leading to many a dietary indiscretion!)

but I digress

Shortly after the wood frame was built, the weather got too cold to even paint it, so it had been sitting on the back patio with a blue tarp over it since.

This week, it was warm enough. So the DH put a coat of paint on all of the wood surfaces (something not really required, but it does extend the life of the wood, especially when it's outdoors).

Then yesterday we wrapped the chicken wire around the outside, fastened it all down with heavy duty staples and carried it out to it's assigned spot in the yard.

This morning I put in the first deposit -- coffee grounds, orange peel and the remains of some strawberries that had been ignored long enough in the fridge to begin the transformation into some sort of alcholic beverage -- the dog is still trying to figure out how to get to it --- pacing around the pen, sniffing, looking longingly at those "goodies"

Mission Accomplished!!

and just in time --- tomorrow we're supposed to get a boat load of snow

I can't take it any more

the hate mail that is

All during the election my inbox was filled with nasty, lie filled hate mail about our new president ---- from people who are either "distant" relatives or supposedly friends

During the last 4 or 5 years I have become something of a political junkie. When we lived in California my views were considered to be middle of the road to nearly conservative. Now that I live in Colorado, I'm considered to be a flaming liberal --- and my views have not changed.

This morning I went through my email and found yet another one of those nasty emails -- I snapped --- I sent back a one line reply -- "please don't send me any more of this hate mail"

the letter in question came from a cousin of my mother's, and I'm risking family feuds, but I just don't want to hear it any more

we need to stop the way business has been done with hate speach and spreading of lies and move on to working together to fix the truly horrible mess our country is in

we need safe roads and bridges
we need new renewable power sources
we need responsible health care

so much to do and so much is being wasted on just being mean

geeesh!

no, what do I REALLY think

about health care in this country, that is

On this blog have been some of my larger "rants" on this subject, and I have to say, this may not be one of them, but I just need to "get it out"

It's been a loooonnnngggg week

My dad was supposed to get a biopsy done this week on a "swelling" around his voice box. Turns out the specialist had actually wanted him to have this done back in October, but neglected to clearly communicate that information to my parents at the time.

Then, when the specialist sent his little report to their "primary care" doctor, it just went into the file, and the primary care doctor never asked them if the biopsy had been taken care of either.

Oh yes, and the biopsy didn't get done this week either because my dad is in the hospital with pneumonia, and now they want to wait until he recovers from that.

And then there is the medication issue.

A while back the doctor prescribed a medication for my dad to aid in his digestion (since his last cancer surgery he has had issues with this). Problem is, the medication they prescribed induces Parkinsonian-like symptoms, that can become permanent if you stay on the medication.

So, one of the doctors told my parents that there is a medication that does everything BUT the side effects. But it's not available in the U.S. After several MONTHS of dealing with the Canadian pharamacy and trying to get an acceptable prescription from the doctor, my sister recently discovered that the "no side effects" medicine is available in Great Britian --- OVER THE COUNTER!!!!!

Insert appropriate swearing here!!!

I've said it before, and I'll keep on saying it until it gets fixed --- the health care system is seriously broken --- it has nothing to do with health OR care ---- it's all about how much money the drug companies and the insurance companies can make.

It crossed my mind Tuesday as I watched them wheel Teddy Kennedy out on a stretcher that fixing health care has been his life work, and he's hanging on to get a real reform passed and to a president that will sign it.

We better all hope it happens.

Not their day to die

This post could be sub-titled "or, why I refuse to fly", but that is not my real point to this post.

My grandmother used to say that each of us has a certain appointed number of days here.

I'm not so sure I believe that --- too fatalistic for my experience, and I believe in free agency which gives us choices and chances to impact what happens in our lives.

But I also believe that every choice and decision we make impacts every choice and decision we get to make (or must make) thereafter.

I find it really interesting how the pictures from this plane ditching in the Hudson make it look like the people are all walking on the water, just waiting for those ferry boats to come by the stop and pick them up.

And actually, it seems like the guy that could almost walk on water was the pilot. By all reports, there just couldn't have been a better guy in the pilot's seat to handle this situation. I think he deserves whatever the highest civilian award for bravery and service there is.

Whatever choices, decisions or fates were involved with this group, it just wasn't their day to die.

It gives us a view of what a real hero looks like --- a pilot "doing his job", and ferry boat captains and passengers suddenly finding themselves "in the fray", making that decision to go toward the danger and help save another person's life.

What would I have done?

What would you?

Blogging --- am I doing it right?

Almost every day that I'm on my computer I check out a favorite blog or two (and I have a LOOOOONG list of "favorites" bookmarked -- some of you know who you are!).

Some days some of my favorites have posted, and some days not --- sort of like the way that I post (when the spirit moves me)

What puzzles me most are the ones that seem to look different every time I see them, like the writer has an unending fount of templates to use.

I'm thinking about what Marshall McLuhan said "the medium is the message"

I guess it's all about what your blog is to you. Since I think of mine as a sort of on line journal, I think that explains why the template doesn't change much --- from me it's about what I have to say (or babble about)

just sayin'

mumbling

This post should be subtitled "I really don't like change unless it's my idea"

For the past 6 months I have been part of a local quilt group.

It was fun.

Once a month we'd get together, show off whatever we'd been working on, stitch a bit, talk a bit, and have lunch (potluck)

Now there's been a change in the routine

It seems that there were several of the ladies that want to do "classes" -- ie: teaching each other techniques

Ok, I guess I'm outa here

Why? you ask?

#1 -- every class they have planned for the entire year involves piecing -- a fine technique, wonderful in fact if you're wanting to whip up a quick quilt top on the machine -- it's just not what I'm doing right now

#2 -- because I'm working on applique art quilts right now, doing the classes would mean I'd have to go and BUY materials to do them, and then I'd have to figure out what to do with whatever gets done in class -- also not what I had in mind doing right now --

{sigh}

just when I was having fun

Unabashedly stolen

Over at Kay's Thinking Cap she posted a list of things she's done.

Since she invited folks to do so, I stole her list and made it mine.

The stuff I've done is in RED

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to a charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo.
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown my own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill. (Ok, it was a "Mental Health" day!)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (in the winter I do this a lot!)
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (accidentally)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt (several, actually)
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (they wanted to hire a relative).
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Ridden an elephant

Ok, a lot of the things I haven't done involve traveling -- as on a airplane -- which is not likely to happen folks!!

Interesting to review, though

What does YOUR list look like?

thinking about Spring

It's January

Right now it's not so cold that we have frost on the tree -- in fact what we do have is brown snow

Last weekend we had snow, and since our back yard faces north, the snow takes a long time to melt from there

and since there is construction going on in the field right behind us, the 50 mph winds we've had for a couple of days has turned what's left of the snow and ugly, dirty looking brown

I wish it would either finish melting or we'd get new snow (I can't believe I said I wanted snow!)




All of which has me thinking about Spring --

and Summer --

and gardens

Have you ever noticed how the seed catalogs start to arrive right after New Year's?

I'm thinking I'm not the only one that needs a bit of a lift and there's nothing quite so uplifting as thinking about eating yummy stuff right out of my own yard

We got some new catalogs this year -- my favorite being the one that came from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds --- the art work is adorable, the seed prices are reasonable and they have seeds for some plants I remember from my childhood and you can't get anywhere locally

We've worked up a list of what we're going to order, and soon we'll be going out and measuring the space then working up drawings of what will get planted where

Funny, we've lived in this house now for 7 years (the longest I've lived in one place since I left my parent's), but last summer was the first year we actually did serious gardening. I guess we're finally "here".

The DH has built me a frame to use for compost -- I need to paint it then we can put on the chicken wire to keep the labrador from digging in it for those tasty morsels -- you know, egg shells and coffee grounds and apple peel or potato peel -- the joys of gardening with a big black dog

Seed catalogs are our reminder that Spring is coming!

The Ghost of Christmas Past

When I was a child my grandmother would set up a snow village on top of the piano.

She would put down a layer of batting and set up the little houses and trees.

Back early in December I was talking to my mother about decorating for Christmas.

My folks don't decorate anymore, not even a tiny little tree, and she was asking me if there were some of the things that I wanted.

I told her that someday I'd like to have the snow village that my grandmother used to set up.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I opened one of the boxes from my mother to find these little cardboard houses inside.

These are the ones! I don't know how old they are, though I remember them from the late 1950s and I doubt they were new then. Each one has the opening in the back for the old style Christmas lights.

We're getting ready to take our Christmas stuff down now, but next year I want to get a string of small LED lights to put inside these.

Yes, it's definately the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Almost 12 Days of Christmas

I know, you're all tired of the 12 days of Christmas.

In fact, most places have gotten past Christmas, past New Year's and are already thinking about Valentine's day.

A lot of folks think of the 12 days of Christmas being the 12 days BEFORE the 25th of December. Actually it's traditionally the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany which is January 6th and is the day celebrated as when the Magi arrived.

We leave our tree up and light it until January 6.

And in recent years as our children have gotten older and have their own lives, as do my sister and her husband, sometimes the Christmas get together actually occurs with them closer to Epiphany than Christmas.

We had our family gathering at my folks house on Saturday. These gatherings usually include presents and food and a good deal of chaos -- Eight adults in a small space, everyone talking at once plus the usual mess of wrapping paper, boxes and ribbon from the unwrapping.

My sister was obviously reading my wish list this year. These were the presents I got to unwrap:

A box of pins!

Ok, you may not get how great this is, but these are an essential (and time saving) item for quilting projects.

And since I've had at least one quilt project and usually more going for quite a while, this will keep me happily moving along on those for this year


Off of her knitting needles to my hands -- lovely mitts to keep my wrists and hands warm while allowing me to write, sew, knit, draw or even type!

She had made me a pair of these last year (in bright red) and now I have a pair to wear and a pair to wash --- a wonderful thing!!!

I really love this heather-y blue yarn


There was also a package of Christmas blend coffee -- yummy --- sorry no pictures, I couldn't wait to open it and so I'm enjoying a cup-a, as I write this morning





and this book

I had read on someone else's blog (sorry, I can't remember who) about this book back when it came out in the fall and I really wanted to read it

It's great

One of the things in the first chapter talks about how long and cold and dark the month of January is and what you can do to "winterize" your mind.

I'm trying to put into practice 2 of the things

1) seeing the sunrise and the sunset every day and enjoying every precious minute of daylight

and

2) repairing something with my hands -- sew it, glue it, Fix It! I'll be mending a pair of jeans and a couple of shirts today

Sometimes when we have this family gathering I learn something new.

To say that my dad is not a great communicator would be a major understatement. So I was really amazed to hear him say how pleased he is that my sister and I are not only sisters, but have learned to be friends as well.

I know he's been hearing horror stories from one of his neighbors about one brother stealing from the other, and perhaps that is what put this on his mind.

But, yes, given that we are about as different in most ways as two sisters can be; that for most of our adult lives we've lived too far apart to even see each other for years at a time, we are friends.

So, I choose to start the new year instead of making resolutions that I probably wouldn't keep just to say how grateful I am to have a sister that is my friend ---

For all the gifts and all the times you've pulled my butt out of the fire --- thanks sis!

TW3

for those of you of a certain age, there may be a faint ringing of bells -- "TW3, TW3 -- I remember that but what was it"

It stood for the phrase "That Was The Week That Was", and was a 1960's satire of the news.

it just seems appropriate here, since it has been a week since I posted on any of my blogs

and it will be short

I'm still recovering

after 3 days of heavy pain killers, I've spent the rest of the week "tapering off" and slowly stretching the arm, trying to get range of motion and strength back

last night was the first night without pain killers, and it was nice to wake up and not feel hung over

I have managed to finish all but 2 of the planned projects for Christmas, and one of those should be done today. (the second one was a last minute "oh, I think I'll just whip this up" sort of project, and will probably be gifted "on the sticks" to be completed after Christmas)

computer work (at least at the desk top) is still painful, so the other project I need to be working on will be done on the laptop is small sessions

just wanted to let anyone that regularly reads here know I'm still "hangin' in"

surrender

after nearly a week of trying heat, cold, and advil, I have given in to the idea that I needed a stronger medication to get this whole arm/shoulder issue under control

half of a pain killer later, I was actually able to use the arm more effectively without wishing that someone would just shot me -- seriously, one can only stand so much throbbing, stabbing, burning pain

for now the plan is to try to keep the pain level down enough that I can keep the shoulder from "freezing" from lack of use and to hold off any need for a trip to the doctor until after January 1, not wanting to try to deal with the financial impact of doctor's visits, testing, etc., etc.

this means though that any project that is not absolutely necessary is on the back burner -- I'm just hoping to finish the Christmas projects I had started -- this lack of being able to do any creative activity will not be easy to deal with

nuts

growing means changing

I had lunch with an artist friend earlier this week, and our conversation made me think about the way my work has changed

Back when I started making bears most of my work were medium to large bears, sort of a morphing of what I made as toys into something more collectible

Over the years, I have experimented with really big bears and really little bears, with dressed bears and bare bears, with boy bears and girl bears.

A while back I sort of hit a wall on bears -- I was feeling that I just didn't have any more ideas for bears, so I started making some different animals --- one of a kind birds, for instance --- and those were well recieved

So, while I still enjoy building the occasional one of a kind bear, I'm thinking I'll still be doing those unusual pieces, because it feeds the growth of my art

(but I also have a bear design that I started a while back and want to get back to)

I guess the whole thing is that growing means changing, if I don't try new things I get bored and the finished work isn't worth taking the pictures of

"bear" with me, I'll be experimenting with some new things here shortly

Playing at Mammy's House

Over at Travelin Oma's Marty wrote a great post about playing at her grandmother's house.

Since I had said a while back that I was going to write some more about the things I remember of my grandmother, I took Marty's idea for this post.

I spent a lot of time at Mammy's house.

During the summer there would be long stretches of time there.

Since there was no swimming pool in easy walking distance, our summer cool off place was a tin wash tub

I remember sitting in the tub and running a hose

Running through the hose was a big deal too -- as were the discussions with my grandparents about when it was warm enough to do so -- it had to be more that 75 degrees for us to be able to run through the hose


And there were marbles

Because my grandfather was a postman back in the days when they actually WALKED a route, he would find marbles in the street

Somewhere at my mother's house there is a deep cookie tin full of the marbles he found and brought home in his pockets

I remember blowing up the air mattress, putting one end of it up on the couch and running marbles down the grooves in it to race them to the bottom

One summer when Mammy had been teaching me to knit we used up a bunch of little scrap pieces of yarn to knit little 1 to 2 inch squares with tails at one end that my sister and I dubbed "mice" which we then took outside to play with over a blanket stretched across a wood frame. We bounced them all around like they could do double flips on a trampoline.


and then there were the paperdolls

Betsy McCall paperdolls to be exact -- (which I only recently discovered were introduced in 1951 -- the year I was born!)

Mammy let me have that highly coveted page as soon as the McCall's magazine arrived in the mail.

I had a box that greeting cards had come in that was the place that the carefully cut out dolls were stored.

Right now I'm wondering whatever happened to those, wishing I had kept them, wondering if my mother will find them as she is now going through all of the ephemera from Mammy's house that she hadn't gotten to.

And so it was that play time at Mammy's was also learning life skills --- I learned to sew and knit and cut --- and all of those skills are still the backbone of the arts I do today.

So what did you play with at your grandma's house?

taking on one more project?

actually it's more a return to a project started long, long ago

we're Christmas crazy at our house -- at least that's the best excuse I have

on several occasions we have put up as many as 8 or 9 trees -- I have about 40 apple boxes full of Christmas decorations

many years ago (at least 10), I was part of a small online group that had formulated an idea for a Christmas book

Unfortunately, nothing ever came of it because -- well, life happens

but the idea of doing this has never really gone away, and it tends to rear it's head every year about this time

and it seems that it has made a return in the head of the DH as well as he went through a catalog we received this week, marked it up and handed it to me saying "this would be a good start on the book"

I guess it may be time to take the bull by the horns (or the reindeer)

One of the major problems with the book in it's former incarnation was the whole "how do we get it published" issue

In the last decade the amazing advances in the "publish it yourself" industry online has made that question into nothing more than an empty Christmas sock sort of excuse

So, I'll be asking you to bear with me as we babble on about Christmas long after the holiday is over this year while I try to figure out how to put this all together

Meantime, if you know of any artist that makes Christmas themed items, I'd welcome you sending me a link to their web presence so I can take a look!

trends, cycles and finding one's own "voice"

I've been involved this week in two converging conversations on line -- it's interesting how two totally unconnected groups of artists discuss some of the same things

So, let us begin with a confession: I'm what I would consider an "ambitious artist". I love to create things -- all kinds of things -- and in order to continue to do that I need to sell at least some of them.

Besides that, I have, for as long as I can remember, had that "I want to be the best at something and I want every body know it" thing in my head -- I guess now days they'd call that wanting to be "popular", but that's not really the same thing, in my opinion.

I am also a totally unfocused artist --- I have never been able to just do one thing, which may be the reason that I'm not really good at either selling or winning awards.

This week on one of the email lists that I belong to, someone posted about a big Dale Chihuly Exhibit, praising his work, etc., etc.

For me this once again set off the question that I have struggled with for years as a bear artist --- what defines an "artist" bear versus what is a "manufactured" bear --- I have for years worked under the idea that an "artist" bear is one made entirely by the designer(s), and a "manufactured" bear is designed by an artist then made in quantities by skilled labor. My husband and I make artist bears --- now days especially, many of our pieces are a collaboration of skills (he does pattern design, cutting, jointing; I do sewing, stuffing, finishing) and nearly every piece is a one of a kind.

Evidently this destinction does not apply to the "big A" art world, as it was pointed out to me quite clearly by others on the mailing list --- in the "big A" art world, especially in sculpture, and large installation art, one designer with many workers appears to be the norm.

At the same time that I was reading and responding to those emails, there were some quite interesting posts in another place regarding Etsy and the whole host of Stampington Press publications.

I have never been one to pay any attention to trends. When I was a child and a teenager it simply didn't matter if I wanted to do so or not --- it was not an option, and as an adult I just never got there.

I like what I like.

A while back I had submitted some pieces to one of the Stampington Press magazines for consideration, and was told that my pieces didn't fit in with anything they were doing right now. When I told my daughter about that her response was sure and swift --- "mom, your stuff is not "ugly" enough"

Now by ugly she means that sort of worn, primitive, folk art style that seems to be the current rage among the 20 to 40 age group that is snapping up those publications and doing the most crafting/selling/buying on Etsy.

I don't do that kind of pieces.

My tastes are more simple, elegant, clean and yes, occasionally very bold and ornate.

I've tried from time to time to make pieces (bears, jewelry) that I think will sell

Usually that sort of effort is a big failure, not only on the sales end, but as being personally satisfying to make ---- those are a lot more like work, and it would be more profitable financially to go flip burgers

So, the question becomes, how to find that niche market --- I have to believe that there are other 40+ women with similar tastes, but there does not appear to be any place on line that is paying any attention to us "old folks"

Meantime, today after over a year as a shop owner on Etsy, I made my first sale out of the shop. It is a custom order for a dog toy. I'll take it.

But I'm still looking for a place that will be a good venue for my "art pieces", and hoping the style trends will cycle around to my point of view.

Asking for help

Over at Yesterday's Glitter Kelly has a great post about irony and compassion.

It set me to thinking about how hard it is to "make it" in business out here on the world wide web --

yes, the internet is in some ways a great equalizer -- the individual in the basement in her pjs loading up stuff to sell can look like a much bigger company

but it also means that the whole world is your competition

I realized after reading Kelly's post that she is correct when she says "All too often when people complain over something it's a cry for help that they don't know how to ask for."

Those of you that have read this blog for a while know that this is the place where I sometimes complain. (Ok, I try to complain only here, not on the studio blog)

But I realize that what I'm really doing when I complain here is hope that because it is out there on the world wide web that someone will see what I've said and offer some suggestion that will help me solve whatever I've complained about

I also think that Kelly is right about not being in the right niche at the right time. As my mother has said from time to time "when my ship comes in I'll probably be at the airport".

I know at least two bear artists (neither of which has been making bears as long as I have), that on a regular basis will make a bear, list it on their web site, and sell it within a week -- one of them regularly sells her pieces for $500 and up.

A while back, when I was feeling particularly discouraged about the whole thing, I sent an email to one of them asking for some help.

I wanted to know how she managed this feat.

Was it that my pictures weren't good enough (though I've been told they're good)?

Was it that I didn't write up the descriptions well?

Was it that the product just wasn't good enough?

I guess she didn't feel like she wanted to share her success -- since she never replied

Recently I was reading an article about the "new crafters", and I'm beginning to wonder if it's just that the whole trend of what is selling now has passed me by

I think I'm pretty tech savvy for an old broad -- I do blog after all, but I don't do Face Book or Twitter or Flickr or any of those other things -- I like doing my art, and the more time I spend on the computer, the less time I have to do art.

How do you manage to balance all of that?

And most important of all is still that question -- is it the presentation (whatever form it takes) or is the work just not good enough?

Sure would be nice to know

not such a great grandma

This is my great grand daughter

through the miracle of the internet I found out that she was born back on the 11th

since my step daughter decided we had offended her a couple of years back and hasn't talked to us since, I'm not really surprised that she didn't let us know about the baby's arrival (and for all I know the baby's mother isn't talking to her mother)

At any rate, all this means I'm (technically) a great grandmother --- HUH?

Because I knew this baby was on the way, I made this quilt and the little knit lamb toy during the summer and now I'll be packing it up and shipping it off

I hope they like it

I hope they'll use it

On the whole, it's a really wierd situation



Have I mentioned recently how much I think the health care system in this country is screwed up?

I know, I know, this seems to be a rant I have about once a month, please bear with me here folks, it helps if I can get this out of my system

Here's the latest:

My husband was told by his doctor that it was time for him to have his pneumonia vaccination. She told him that she doesn't keep the vaccine on hand and we should arrange with the scheduler for a date to have the shot so they could get it in.

So, I talked to the scheduler, and set it up and figured we were set.

But no, when we got there at the appointed time, the other person (ie the one I nearly always want to hang up on when I have to talk to her on the phone and I refer to as the "Snippy B***H") was there and said they wouldn't give him the shot because they'd had all these problems with the insurance not paying for them, etc., etc., and that we should go to the pharmacy to have it done

So, we went to pharmacy (our local Walgreens) and tried again -- they tried to run it through on his Secure Horizons medicare supplement insurance and their system told them to run it through Medicare, and then supposedly Medicare told them he's not even in their system. After about 40 minutes in the pharmacy, we came home and I got on the phone

First I talked to Secure Horizons and was told that if his primary care physician gives him the pneumonia vaccine, they will cover it. If we go to a pharmacy, we have to pay up front and then send in the stuff to be reimbursed (whenenver they get around to it).

Then I called Medicare and verified that they do have a record of him (DUH!!), and figured the pharmacy just put in a number wrong.

Then I called the doctor's office and told them his insurance will cover it (what other insurances for other people are doing is NOT our problem), and we want them to get the vaccine and give him the shot.

He was supposed to get his shot at 1:30 yesterday -- they STILL didn't have the stuff. They called me about 3 p.m. and said the vaccine had finally arrived --

AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Part of this of course is just people trying to pass off the hard stuff to someone else because they don't want to deal with it.

It's frustrating.

Oh yes, I did survive all of that yesterday with minimal stress, so I guess the St John's Wort is starting to take affect

The first test?

So today, after weeks of unseasonably warm weather, it actually looks (and feels) like November -- cold, gray, drizzlie

During the time I'm on the computer every morning, the dog usually alternates between patrolling the back yard to "supervise" the construction workers in the field beyond and laying in the front window in the sun to watch the kids go to school.

This morning after a brief trip around the yard she joined me at the computer as if to ask me if we were going to have to put up with this stuff for long.

I share her dismay

As I have said many times, I don't really like winter -- which is really not quite true -- I love the pretty days -- the sun on fresh snow, everything sparkling like brand new days -- but I don't like the gray, and I don't do well in the cold.

In fact, when I had my annual visit with the doctor recently I asked her about the "gray wall of winter"

And so, for the last 2 weeks I've been taking a daily dose of St John's Wort, which was her recommendation for a "homeopathic antidepressant" -- I'm hopeful that it will do the trick

I guess today is the first test

The current magic number is 987

I can sense a lot of question marks forming over your heads

magic number for what?

current? as in it will change?

987!

Ok, I admit, I'm being deliberately difficult here

For a while now I've been trying to get the volumes and volumes of paper research I have done on our family's history into a computer program

The idea was to make it easier to share information, print a whole raft of reports, scrapbook pages, etc., and generally get everything into a more organized form -- not to mention being able to get rid of some of the paper (not the original birth certificates or pictures!) .

So on Sunday afternoons (and other times too) I have been putting the information in -- to date 987 names -- and I know for sure that I have barely scratched the surface of the information that I have

Good Grief!

Back when I was doing a lot of this research I guess I had no clue just how much information I had gathered because it was all in notebooks and it wasn't easy to put a number on it.

Amazing

Don't Scam Me!!

I just hate it when someone tries to scam me.

When I opened this morning's emails, I saw one with the following subject line: "Invitation to Chapeau Blog Awards"

The contents were all about this wonderful award they were giving and how I was urged to submit my blog for consideration, blah, blah, blah

Ok, so I went and looked at their site

Oh yeah, I can submit my site --- for $195 --- HUH!?

So, there ya go, seems that blogland awards are about the same as the jewelry design awards and the teddy bear awards -- it's the golden rule -- they that have the gold, rule

needless to say, all future correspondance from this group will be going right into the SPAM folder

geesh (and I'm feeling stupid because I actually thought this was for real)

learning as character building

not just in the usual way, of course

I've been thinking about how different people learn

some people learn by taking it step by step -- you know -- floating, dog paddling, swimming then diving

me, I have this whole other approach -- just jump into the deep end -- not with water, but with a whole host of other things

when I wanted to play the piano, I was not content with "Mary had a little lamb" or finger exercises -- nope, right into "Moonlight Sonata" -- which I actually could play all the way through at one point -- just not any more

so it is with other things too, and what happens sometimes is that I learn how to do some of the most difficult parts of the project before I have all of the basics -- sort of like building a bridge on a jello foundation (somehow that whole "see it wiggle" jingle is a BAD thing with bridges)

at any rate, it is at least challenging and interesting (and some times frustrating!)

So, how to you learn new things?

It's gotta be the Hope

In the last week I've noticed some very interesting things here in the very conservative hamlet we live in.

While we are still in the midst of a very ugly economic mess, people in the stores and other public places are actually (gasp!) SMILING! and saying hello, or even having a full on conversation.

And, last night as I was out driving after dark I noticed something else -- Christmas lights -- all out decorating -- not on stores and commercial buildings (I'm immune to any thoughts about those, since we've been seeing Christmas merchandise in the stores since before Halloween), but these were on individual homes and apartments

This morning I mentioned it to someone and she said she had even put up her tree already.

It's like on November 4 the whole area got the most wonderful Christmas present ever -- a great BIG package of gift wrapped HOPE

WOW!

what a difference

Being the memory bearer

A while ago I wrote a piece here about my mother's mother. (If you want to go and take a look, you can see it here)

And Saturday I wrote a bit here about Día de los Muertos that included pictures of other family members.

Wednesday I had a long conversation with my mother which at one point turned to wondering what my grandmother would have thought about this election. We talked a bit about my grandmother's life and the amazing things she lived through. As we talked, I discovered that there are a lot of stories about my grandmother that my mother doesn't know.

Later in the day I had a conversation with my daughter and shared some of that discussion.

Out of the mouths of our children we are lead to righteousness -- my daughter said "mom, if you don't write it, it will die with you"

Whoa! ok, I've officially been chastised.

So in the next little while I will be sharing some of those stories -- both here and in print with my mother.

Oh yes, and I need to get back to scanning the rest of those old family photos and figuring out how to transcribe about a dozen tapes my aunt made about my dad's family

Yes, We Can

For the first time in my life I stayed up to watch the election results come in

While I have voted in every election that I could, this year just seemed bigger than any one I voted in since that very first one

For weeks I had been saying to people on my blogs and otherwise -- vote like your life depends on it -- it does!!

The last time I cried over a political event was when Kennedy was shot. Those tears were over the end of the feeling that I could be part of changing the world.

So here, 40 years later, I have held my breath as another young Democrat spoke and stirred us all with the renewal of that feeling that we still could change the world.

Held my breath because I was afraid that this voice too might be horribly, totally silenced.

I listened to Obama speak Tuesday night and was struck by the fact that the message had not changed, but he spoke more seriously. Still with conficence, but seemingly already considering the enormous responsibility of the job.

Yesterday morning's email included one from Obama saying thank you to the people that helped him get elected. It included this sentence: "We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next."

Having used the technology of the 21st century to organize a grassroots 50 state campaign that got him elected, he shows every sign of now using it to change the direction of our country.

Do I think everything will be magically better? No -- I know that won't happen.

But I do feel like things are slowing going to be different -- he has appealed to our better angels, I think there will be a real attempt to let us all be part of the solutions.

I'm thinking about two song lyrics -- one that was used during some of his early campaign rallies:

There's a New World Coming
And it's just around the bend
There's a new world coming
This one's coming to an end

There's a new voice calling
You can hear it if you try
And it's growing stronger
With each day that passes by

There's a brand new morning
Rising clear and sweet and free
There's a new day dawning
That belongs to you and me

Yes a new world's coming
The one we've had visions of
Coming in peace, coming in joy, coming in love

I'm also thinking of another set of lyrics -- probably because Obama actually said part of it:

This is the moment!
This is the day,
When I send all my doubts and demons
On their way!

Every endeavor,
I have made - ever -
Is coming into play,
Is here and now - today!

This is the moment,
This is the time,
When the momentum and the moment
Are in rhyme!

This is our chance, this is our moment

now let's all work together and not blow it!!

Día de los Muertos

Let me begin by saying that there is no Hispanic heritage in my family line, so to any of my readers that are, an apology in advance for co-opting your celebration.

I know that this celebration is older than Christianity, having been celebrated for over 3000 years before the Spanish came to "the new world" and tried to stamp it out as pagan.

There's something that just feels right to spend at least one day a year remembering and being thankful for those that came before you.

While I believe that we each bring our own personality with us when we are born, we are influenced by the family we are born into as well.

So today, on the day that is now celebrated as All Saints Day, I am grateful for the ancestors that came before, and grateful to have even something so ephemeral as a tattered photo that gives me a tiny glimpse of who these people were.

May you also remember today those that are the reason you are here.

a momentary medical rant

Have I mentioned recently how much I hate the medical system?

I was recently reminded of this issue when reading Marty's blog Travelin Oma, where she was talking about her issues with health care and insurance. (You can read the post I'm talking about here).

Then, when I talked to my mother last night I just about lost it again.

It seems my dad had to have a procedure done yesterday which entails stretching the tissue in his esophogus (he had esophogial cancer surgery a couple of years back, and he makes scar tissue way too efficently, so they do this procedure about every 3 or 4 months).

So, it was time to do this again, and my dad had made his appointment where they told him they could do this yesterday morning. They get to the place to have this done and they are told he's not on the schedule. AGAIN! The last time he went in they had done this to him too. For whatever reason the doctor's office doesn't seem to be able to follow one simple thing -- write it down!!

Once they got that part straightened out, then they were told that the code for the procedure was coming back as something not covered by Medicare -- WHAT!? He's had this thing done nine times before and Medicare has always paid for it.

I swear, it's like the older we get the more difficult the system makes it for us -- why should my mother have to tell the billing clerk what code they should be using to ask Medicare to pay for something that they've billed 9 times before?

It's almost like they're hoping all of us older folks will just give up and die off so they don't have to deal with us

It makes me plenty mad (can you tell?)

geesh

Life is messy

have you ever notice that?

A while back I decided to try to sort out my blogging by catagory, beading in one, fiber arts in another

trouble is, that kind of "neatness" just ISN'T me

So, today I posted my last posts on two of the ones I had started and I feel a huge relief at not having to try to come up with something to say on those, or even to explain why I don't have anything to say on them!

I will continue to post on Hatties Kitchen with recipes and household tips (a new recipe was posted this morning) and on Esmerldas Studio about all of the many cross media projects that I'm working on (I post there almost every day); and here with all those things that are of a more personal, philosophical or political nature.

I hope you'll join me on all three!

Over the weekend we had the pleasure of getting to hear our daughter sing in a performance -- the first we've gotten to attend for about 6 years!

She has recently joined the Loveland Opera Theatre, and Saturday evening was their fundraising Gala -- dinner, silent auction and entertainment by the company.

It had been my pleasure to donate a piece of music themed jewelry for them to auction (which raised a nice amount for them, I might add).

I'm looking forward to new opportunities to hear them perform and probably to be involved in other ways as well.


On the way back from our daughter's on Sunday we stopped by to visit with my folks. I can report (with a hugh sign of relief) that my dad seemed MUCH better than he had the last two times we had been there.

He was talkative and seemed much more alert. It was a good visit.

I can talk about it now

my daughter and her husband are buying a house!

looks like we'll be spending our Thanksgiving weekend helping them move

we'll be praying for good weather!!!



We went yesterday, the first day of early voting and cast our ballots

There was a line, but I'm sure it wasn't as long as the lines will be on election day!

If you have a mail in ballot -- get 'er done!!
If you can go to early voting -- go do it!!

I think this is probably the most important election I have ever voted in.

GO DO IT!!!!

fighting the "what if" monster

When I was walking yesterday morning I snapped some pictures of the fall colors in our neighborhood.

This one is just around the loop from our house, on the downhill side of the beginning of my walking route.

It had rained some on Saturday night, and everything was dripping, and the sun had just come up, hitting this tree with this spectacular light

The picture doesn't do it justice -- the tree "glowed"

Somehow, it just begged to be photographed

I feel the need to write about some difficult things this morning.

For the past 2 years I've been concerned especially about the health of my dad.

He had surgery for esophageal cancer, then developed an abdominal hernia which they will not repair because they don't want to do surgery on him again unless they must because he has lung issues (COPD and emphysema). All of these problems inpact him.

Recently he and my mom decided to take out a reverse mortgage on their home so they would have some financial breathing room. My sister helped them deal with the paperwork and the setting up of accounts, etc., and I worried from afar.

Frankly, I've been concerned these past few months if he is just tidying up loose ends.

The last two times I've seen him he seems fragile. He doesn't talk much when we're actually there and he doesn't answer the phone any more when we call -- just mom does.

And I wish I could talk about this whole thing in a more open way with my sister. It's not that we don't talk -- we can chat for hours about knitting and our animals and music and all of that, but our upbringing didn't teach us to talk about BIG stuff -- like what does she see and how does she feel about it.

As usual, I pour my worry and my energy into creative endeavors -- working on more projects keeps my hands and my head busy and helps me hold off the "what if" monster in my brain when I'm working.

So, my dear readers, forgive me for this intensely personal post.

and say a prayer for my dad

Sunday morning musings

On Sunday mornings, if I have nothing pressing to work on at the computer I go blog surfing.

This mornings ride included a trip to a site titled Colorstrology.com

I'm not really into the whole "the stars/your number/your astrological sign" control your life thing -- I do believe we have freedom to choose, but found the description of someone born on my birthdate to be interesting:


Mar 30
Faded Rose
Pantone 18-1629

Storyteller
Thinker
Messenger

People born on this day tend to teach others through the stories they share. Whether you are singing a song, writing a play or painting a picture, you are able to convey images and emotions that can affect others. It is very important to you to stay active and communicate. Your thoughts can turn to worry if you are not expressing yourself and connecting with the world at large. Your personal color embodies love, passion and courage.


So what do you think?

I'd say the "worry wart" thing fits perfectly, I am a lot happier if I'm creating (yes, any medium works!), and I've always loved the color RED.

What color are you?

Thanks, but no thanks

Some days I hate the mail man

Quite a while back I had submitted a mini quilt for a challenge in one of Interweave Press' magazine

This arrived yesterday

Its a form letter (salutation "Dear Artist") telling me I didn't make the cut from the over 300 entries that they received

{sigh}

Oh well, on to other projects

(anybody need a large coaster?)

In print again

About a week ago one of the newspapers that we subscribe to included an article about a plan to tear down one of the historic high schools in the Denver area.

You can read the article here

The article ticked me off

My daughter attended a historic high school. The students there had a real pride of ownership

So once again I wrote a letter to the editor

You can read my letter here

GRRRRR!

can you hear it?

It's whispering on the wind

"fall is coming, fall is coming"

the clock says its the same time

but its just the break of dawn

"fall is coming, fall is coming"

the air smells different

cooler

less floral as the last of the summer blooms are fading away

"fall is coming, fall is coming"

the leaves on the trees sound different

stiffer, more brittle

"fall is coming, fall is coming"

Standing on the edge of energy's future

Last weekend we made a trip to Kansas City to do a show.

When we travel to Kansas City (as we've done quite a few times over the past 5 years), we drive Interstate 70, right through the heart of the state of Kansas.



We're used to seeing these scattered across the farm fields

pumping away

sucking the oil (or the natural gas, more likely) out of the ground



and we know about this too

a refinery that breaks down all those gallons of oil into the parts that right now we need (this particular one is in Colorado)




to fuel our cars

to heat our homes

to cook our meals


We were in Kansas just one week over a year ago










In that year, these appeared

Giant sentries over the corn and sorgum and sunflower fields

Slowly turning

using the wind (that B L O W S through Kansas)

making power

power for light

power for heat

power for cooking

I am awed by the enormity of these. I am also impressed by just how quickly they were built.

Just over a year!!!!!

And there are a lot of them -- probably at least 100 in this little area off I-70 in Ellsworth County, Kansas

Its a wonderful thing

now we need more of them, and more solar panels

this industry can not only provide heat and light but another extremely important thing right now -- JOBS!!

as I said, I'm mightily impressed

fall's coming -- I must be a squirrel

that feeling is in the air

it's really cool in the morning when I go out for my walk -- I'm back to wearing a sweat shirt with a hood and some mornings I need my gloves

so far not many leaves are turning color or falling from the trees, but it's coming

the squirrels in the neighborhood are making the dog crazy -- they are busy, busy, busy -- yesterday afternoon one was running the fence with an apple as big as his head in his mouth (guess his mama never told him not to eat anything bigger than his head)

something about fall makes me want to work on getting ready for winter too -- aside from the many art projects that are crowding my brain, jockeying for what gets done first, a new list of household chores has joined in -- things like repairing the fence before the cold weather, painting the tool shed so the wood doesn't rot, repainting the master bathroom to take care of the little issue we had there, getting the weather stripping around the front door replaced

I'm starting to think I could use a few more hours in the day!

a bad case of the "I wants and gimmies"

see this book?

I want it!

put together by two bead artists who have inspired me to do some of the pieces I have done -- Sherry Serafini and Heidi Kummli -- it talks about the techniques they use, the process they use in designing a piece and the kind of things that inspire them

in better days I would have just gone to Amazon and bought this, but nowdays, I don't even buy a magazine without serious consideration to the impact that purchase will have on our budget, so I will just have to hope someone takes pity on me at Christmas time -- or that one of the 3 shows we're doing this month actually makes us some money!!

So there you have it

mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

a while back I posted something that can only be described as a HUGE whine about not reading someone's blog because reading it made me feel bad

and for the past little while (since I posted that) I have stayed away from the subject blog

yesterday I took a peek

and instantly realized that the entire prior post should have actually been done in bright GREEN letters

here's the deal ---

first off, she has no idea I even read her stuff, so she's not aiming anything she writes at me, so it was stupid for me to think that way in the first place

second, and most important, I realize that I'm jealous of her accomplishments as she has (with seeming ease) achieved awards without being in the field for years and is now doing something else I want -- having a book published

herein is the place that I wonder somewhat if those who say it's all fate might have a point -- those who are fated to succeed will, the rest of us should just suck it up

or not

at any rate, I'm still not going to read her everyday, I don't need to have the jealousy reinforced

but I will acknowledge the issue is mine

mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

not so well read

Over at Kay's Thinking Cap she was talking about the top 100 books and how many we've read.

"The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed."

I'm above average, but not as above average as Kay is!

How about you?

1. Look at the list and bold/colourize those you have read.
2. Post the list on your site.
(This can also remind you of some great books to read.)

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkienn
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M. Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On the Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - A.S. Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

In Print again - sort of

My apologies in advance to those of you that read all of my many blogs, as I am quite deliberately posting the same info on just about all of them.

The reason? I think it's important to "spread the word" about an effort to raise money for breast cancer research.



The Fall 2008 issue of Art Doll Quarterly is now on the newstands, and I went last night to pick up my copy.

In this issue (starting on page 50) is the write up about the Pink Artist Doll that I donated two squares for earlier in the year. We got top billing on the cover and an amazing write up in the "from the editor" page of the issue as well as the article that our leader, Monica Magness, wrote about the project.

For more information about a chance to win this beautiful creation (and have your money go to a great cause!), use this link to get further information from our project leader.